Facilitator must be part of the conversations

[Gabriel Shirley]

Doug,

If the facilitator is part of the system, such as at an OSonOS or at  
a professional association meeting, I think there can be value in  
participating. I've seen this happen many times, and I think it  
depends on the situation.

At its best, facilitator participation is a way of modeling the flow  
between leadership and followership.

I think it works best when there is a fair amount of trust and/or  
when the issues being discussed are so big (e.g. Climate Change) that  
it's clear no one person could be "the expert."

I like that you've posed the question to explore the up sides of  
facilitator participation... and I look forward to others' thoughts.  
I recently posed a similar question to a group of personal &  
professional coaches, something like: If you have expertise in the  
subject being discussed, do you share it with your client? The answer  
was pretty unanimous: These coaches would choose to share their  
professional expertise / knowledge if they though it would be useful  
to the larger process, AND they said they would be very clear with  
the client that they were removing their "coach" hat and putting on  
their "author/engineer/whatever" hat for a while.

Gabriel


--
Gabriel Shirley
BigMind Consulting
gabriel at bigmindconsulting.com
206-388-5106
http://bigmindconsulting.com

Linked in profile: http://www.linkedin.com/in/gabrielshirley
Blog: http://blog.gabrielshirley.com


On Jul 30, 2007, at 9:01 AM, douglas germann wrote:

> Hi--
>
> Peggy Holman's Change Handbook has a description of Conversation  
> Cafés,
> which raises the question: why would it be good for the facilitator to
> take part in the conversation? What would be the advantages of taking
> part?
>
> After all, it appears that the host in Conversation Cafés does take
> part, in circle process does take part, and in The World Café may take
> part in the conversations.
>
> The risks it seems to me: the facilitator is seen as the one with the
> answers, simply because of standing at the front/center of the  
> room; the
> temptation, even subconsciously, to push your own agenda because of  
> that
> standing position.
>
> But the advantages might outweigh: one more voice heard; a more
> inclusive whole to the group.
>
> We seem to avoid taking part in the conversations: Harrison takes a  
> nap;
> Michael only does it in a middle time slot.
>
> Could we have a conversation about why it would be good to  
> participate,
> please?
>
> 			:- Doug.
>
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